Let’s say you were in the mood to give your kids something sweet and sticky for breakfast this holiday weekend.  You don’t really care if your family is in on the Celebration of Sugar that everyone partakes in this time of year – but you do care about pesky preservatives and high fructose corn chemicals that come along with all that prepackaged fun.

OK, so how do you let your kids be part of the action without burdening your healthy living conscience?

Well, just make it yourself!  That typically proves to be pretty easy, right?

Wrong.

The holidays come but once a year, and the same can now be said for cinnamon rolls around here too.

First of all, cinnamon roll dough is a yeast dough.  I did not know this when the Let’s Make Our Own Cinnamon Rolls light bulb lit up over my Easy Bake Oven head.

Baking with yeast means crossing your fingers that the dough is gonna rise like it’s supposed to.  It has the potential to make you very sorry you promised your children cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Baking with yeast brings with it the risk of an early morning drive to the store to fetch that tube of poppin’ fresh dough that you wanted to avoid buying in the first place.

Here’s where I start to see why those Pillsbury peeps are rolling in dough and you start reciting some nursery rhymes to entertain me while I try and make these suckers.

Do you know that one about rolling it, and patting it,

and marking it with a “BGM”?

Put them in the oven for the “Big, Giant Mess” and me.

Wait – it’s not time to put them in the oven just yet.  They have to rise again for crying out loud.  It’s gonna be Oh Holy Night before these things are ready to bake.

OK now you can say that line about putting them in the oven for baby and me.

Finally, it begins to look like all your hard work is going to pay off.  In fact, your children will soon ask why you haven’t been using your culinary skills for baked goods instead of veggie evil all this time.

Suddenly you’re reminded of that moment when you first cradled your brand new baby in your arms.  You remember gazing down at that sweet little face with awe and wonder thinking, “Wow. I made that.”

This time though instead of staring at a cute little face, you’re stuffing your own giant face with a hot cinnamon roll while thinking, “Wow. I made that.”

Next, your blood sugar will crash and you’ll be lamenting the mess in your kitchen as well as the remaining dozen or so cinnamon rolls you’ve still got on your sweet, sticky hands.

Here’s where you pack them up with glee and get ready to pass them off on your family and friends.

No artificial colors, flavors or preservative.  No promises about mom’s blood, sweat and tears though either.

Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven, right Pillsbury?

Right.